African
Elephantsby Reinhard Kunkel (Author)
Elephants, writes German wildlife photographer Reinhard KÃ¼nkel,
are strange creatures. "Despite their size," he writes, "elephants by no
means claim undisputed precedence in all their dealings with other animals.
The privileges they might derive from their awesomeness and strength they
are often too gentle and peaceable to claim." Yet an elephant that makes
room for an annoyingly chiding pair of crested cranes one minute will defend
its territory against a curious human the next, and, as KÃ¼nkel
relates, some of the images in this fine suite of photographs were the
result of hair-raising negotiations with elephants on their native turf.
Few wildlife photographers have worked in such close proximity with their
subjects, as he notes in some of the wry autobiographical vignettes that
open his book, and KÃ¼nkel's 120-plus color plates capture
elephants in all aspects of their daily lives: eating, bathing, traveling,
playing, fighting, and, well, making other elephants. KÃ¼nkel
has spent many years among elephants throughout East Africa, and his familiarity
with their ways affords his readers an exceptionally fine experience in
armchair nature travel. --Gregory McNamee - Amazon.comHardcover: 224 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.16 x 13.33 x 10.05
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; Revised edition (April 1, )
ISBN: 0810919842

When
Elephants Paint: The Quest of Two Russian Artists to Save the Elephants
of Thailandby Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid
Once revered as semidivine beings and collaborators in the hard work
of transporting goods and materials, Thailand's elephants have fallen on
hard times. With the destruction of their forested habitats, a consequent
nationwide ban on hardwood logging, and the decline of traditional agriculture
in the rapidly urbanizing country, their numbers have declined from tens
of thousands just a decade ago to only a few thousand today. Many of the
surviving elephants have been put to work in traveling circuses or used
for black-market labor, subject to overwork and all manner of abuse.

Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, Russian expatriates who have been
working together for more than 30 years, have a knack, writes art curator
Mia Fineman, for "transforming the solemn rituals of high art into high
comedy." It was with the utmost seriousness, however, that the two, on
reading of the elephants' plight, traveled to Thailand and established
the Thai Elephant Art School, through whose offices elephants create pop-art
masterpieces with palette, brush, and trunk. (Elephants, it seems, have
a well-known gift for the visual arts and, in the Thai case, adore the
work of Vasily Kandinsky.) Sold to collectors on the world market, pachyderm-painted
pieces generated $75,000 at a single early auction, the proceeds of which
were used to establish and maintain sanctuaries throughout Thailand.

To The Elephant Graveyardby Tarquin Hall
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The Astonishing Elephantby Shana Alexander
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The Fate of the Elephantby Douglas H. Chadwick
It's no longer news that animals are being driven to extinction at
an astonishing rate, with some scientists now estimating that 1,000 species
disappear each year. What is news is that the species are increasingly
familiar to us: lions, grizzly bears, gorillas, whales, black terns--and
elephants. In the 19th century, writes Douglas Chadwick in this superb
journalistic study, Africa boasted more than 10 million of the giant pachyderms;
there are fewer than half a million today, a situation mirrored in Asia.
The slaughter is largely the result of the illegal ivory trade, conducted
through such nations as Japan and Singapore, which ignore international
conventions to keep the barbarous supply rolling. Sanctions on those nations
are needed, says Chadwick--but so is much more. This sobering book offers
an encyclopedic look at the life history of the African and Asian elephants,
which, unless something is done now, may not be long for the world. Amazon.com
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Managing Elephants : An Introduction to Their Training and ManagementOut of Print - Try Used
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